FEAST OR FAMINE

A feature of the architecture in Tbilisi, Georgia is the art of stained glassed windows  inchurches, synagogues, hotels and houses. The Z.Paliashvili Opera and Ballet Theatre on the main street, Rustaveli Avenue, is currently undergoing renovation to bring back the glory of its arches, pillars, and stained glass windows, especially those in the street entrance. The synagogue in Tbilisi has intricately designed stained-glass windows and the side windows of Saint Peter and Paul catholic church located in Ivane Javakhishvili Street are stained glass. The Sioni Cafe and Bakery are part of the Tbilisi Seminary and Spiritual Academy affiliated with the Sioni Cathedral. The Sioni Cafe is situated above the bakery in a small park on Leselidze Street. The cafe has stained glass windows. In the Old City, the Hotel Ambassor, by the river, features stain glassed windows in their bathrooms. Stained glass is a unique and remarkable art form that it thought ...

Set amid India’s 1975 state of emergency, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi suspended the constitution in order to maintain power following a scandal, A Fine Balance is not a political diatribe. Rather, it is a compelling novel of four characters; a widow who refuses her brother’s pleas to remarry, a young student, and two tailors, who are forced by their impoverished circumstance to share a cramped apartment amid societal taboos. They live a cruel life of death, despair, financial troubles, squalor and injustice. Dina, stubbornly independent supports herself by taking in Maneck to help pay the rent while he studies away from his prosperous family to be an airconditioning technician. Two tailors, Om and Ishvar, leave their low-caste origins to work for her during the day making dresses until the government bulldozes their slum dwelling and they move into Dina’s place. Om and Ishvar are forcibly sterilized when they return to their village (again, by decree of the governme...

Child labor projects funded by the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) mitigate exploitive labor through the provision of relevant education programs. Predominantly these programs provide primary and secondary schooling to former child laborers. Vocational programs cost more per student and are therefore usually limited, depending on available funds. However, the success of vocational programs to retain students and provide them with income opportunities after graduation, make them highly viable in combating child labor. A USDOL project in northern Uganda provided 8,176 beneficiaries with access to education in 137 primary schools, 52 secondary schools, 8 accelerated learning centers, and 28 vocational educational institutions. Most enrollments were in formal primary/secondary schools (70%), with 18% in vocational institutes, and 12% in accelerated learning programs. The project’s emphasis on girls’ education and the inclusion of child mothers into vocational ...

Vocational training courses supported by the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) were offered as part of child labor projects in northern Uganda. USDOL targeted northern Uganda for assistance in reducing child labor because of the 18-year conflict with the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group who kidnap children and force them to kill or become sex slaves to the army’s officials. Since June 2002 an estimated 10,000 children have been abducted and 75% of the population in Gulu, Kitgum and Pader have been displaced and living in internally displaced persons’ (IDP) camps. Additionally, an estimated 20,000 children migrated from their villages to the three major towns each night to seek refuge from rebel attacks, and become known as ‘night commuters’. The HIV/AIDS prevalence in northern Uganda is above the national average, estimated at 16%. With nearly 2 million, Uganda has the largest proportion of children orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS in the world and 34% o...

To address the poor performance of Indonesian students on international academic tests pre-2003, the Government of Indonesia (GoI) enacted the Teacher Law in 2005 aimed at providing a much-needed incentive for teachers to improve their qualifications and professional skills. Essentially, the teacher law mandates a comprehensive package of reforms and applies them uniformly to the whole teaching service. Teachers are required to meet two conditions. First, all teachers are required to have a minimum qualification of at least four years of post-secondary education or a S1 degree (equivalent to a bachelor’s degree). Second, having achieved the academic qualification, inservice teachers must pass a portfolio test. Pre-service teachers must take one or two semesters of professional training and pass a certification exam. Certified teachers receive a professional allowance that doubles their salary, and certified teachers who are assigned to remote areas receive a special allowan...

Pamela van Herk is a Canberra portrait artist currently exhibiting "About Face" in the Ilios Gallery in Wilbur's Cafe/Bar. She was born in Canada and immigrated to Australia at the age of two. She attended Melbourne Girl's Grammar and Swinburne University before moving to Sydney where she was offered a two-year scholarship with the North Sydney School of Fine Arts to study portraiture. Pamela was given an exhibition with the Australian Gallery in Kent Street at the age of 19. Her portrait of Deborah Clarke was part of an Australian portrait exhibition sent to Washington D.C. in 2006. In 2002, I commissioned Pamela to paint my portrait. She suggested a blue theme against her signature black background. Pamela took a series of photographs at my first sitting and worked for about 6-8 weeks on the painting. Her current exhibition of acrylic portraits can be seen at Wilbur's Cafe, 14 Hackett Place, Hackett, Canberra. The Gallery phone number is (02) 62...

Sydney celebrated the 10th anniversary of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games last week with grand festivities and re-enactments. Sydney, although not the capital of Australia, is the nation’s largest city and the second to hold the Olympic Games – the first was Melbourne in 1956. The Sydney Olympic Games is still regarded by many as the best ever. Sebastian Coe, an Olympic 1500 meter athletics gold medallist, campaigning for the London Olympics in 2012, announced yesterday that “never was a city so vibrant, excited and frankly embracing of an Olympic Games … venues never so full … sport never so inspiring.” Sydney Olympic Park still attracts 9 million visitors each year and the main stadium is used for domestic and international rugby and soccer matches. The aquatics centre attracts a million competitors a year for swimming and basketball events, as well as other indoor entertainment. Part of Sydney Olympic Park was dedicated to Cathy Freeman during the celebrations on Wednesday for...

Ismail Kadare is Albania’s best-known poet and novelist and he does not disappoint with The File on H (2010) - this satirical tale of espionage, history, and musical entrapment. In the mid-1930s, two Irish-American scholars journey to the Albanian highlands with a new, large, heavy invention: the tape recorder. Their academic mission was to discover how Homer could have composed works of brilliance and as long-worded as the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey” without ever putting pen to paper. For this mystery to be revealed, they travel to Albania, the last remaining habitat of the oral epic to record people reciting and singing the grand epics. Before they arrived in the country, the visa approval officer suspected them of being spies and duly noted this in his records. And, just as duly, the order came to place the two Irishmen under 24-hour surveillance. In the centre of ethnic strife in the Balkans, Bill Norton and Max Ross are mistaken for foreign spies. The locals are suspi...

Freedom Square in Tbilisi, Georgia, is a large cobblestone roundabout of that spins off into six main streets: Rustaveli Avenue, Pushkin Street, Leselidze Street, Shalva Dadiani Street, Galaktion Street, and Leonidze Street. Rustaveli Street is the main wide, tree-lined city street with benches, cafes, pavement statues and grand architectural government buildings. Pushkin Street dips down to the river, past the State Art Museum of Georgia, the Georgia State Museum, and the flower market. The street continues over the Baratashvili Bridge to the left bank and the magnificent Sameba Cathedral on Elijah Mountain. Leonidze Street ascends past restaurants, residential houses and the Money Museum to the suburb of Sololaki to the ridge of the mountains. In the middle of Freedom Square is the Liberty Monument – a tall flood-lit column with a golden statue of St George on his steed, slaying a dragon – erected on November 23, 2006. Around the square is the Tbilisi City Hall with its clo...

An article by Carol Bradley in the Georgian Journal lists seven myths about millionaires: 1. Millionaires don’t pay their taxes: Millionaires in America in the top 1% of earners pay 40% of all taxes. 2. Millionaires inherit their money: Only 20% of millionaires inherit their wealth. 3. Millionaires feel rich: Most millionaires worry about retirement, college funds for their children, and the mortgage, just like everyone else does. 4. Millionaires have high-paying jobs: Half of all millionaires are self-employed or own a business; 80% have a college degree and 18% have a master’s degree. 5. Millionaires all drive fancy cars: Most millionaires drive a Ford; second preference is a Cadillac; and third preference is a Lincoln. 6. Millionaires play golf all day: Only 20% of millionaires are retirees with 80% still working. 7. Millionaires are elitist: Millionaires are just regular people. Beating all sporting ultra millionaires in all of history is not a go...

The city of Mtskheta was a capital of the Georgian Kingdom of Iberia during the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD. Georgians accepted Christianity in 317 and Mtskheta still remains the headquarters of the Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church. Svetitskhoveli Cathedral (11th century) and Jvari Monastery (6th century) in Mtskheta are amongst the most significant monuments of Georgian Christian architecture. In Mtskheta there is also the Armaztsikhe fortress (3rd century BC), the Armaztsikhe acropolis (dating to the late 1st millennium BC), the fragmentary remains of a royal palace (1st-3rd century AD), a nearby tomb of the 1st century AD, a small church of the 4th century, the Samtavro Monastery (11th century), the fortress of Bebris Tsikhe (14th century), the Institute of Archaeology, and the garden of Mikheil Mamulashvili. Mtskheta is an hour's drive north of the current capital, Tbilisi, on the river Metekhi, with a population of approximately 150,000.

The sulphur baths of Tbilisi are a popular tourist attraction: one of the indulgent pleasures of the region, much like the hammams of Turkey and the Middle East. Legend says that King Gorgasali was hunting deer and shot one that fell into a hot sulphur spring. The deer strangely and miraculously healed and this is how the restorative powers of the sulphur springs was discovered. Tbilisi means warm springs. Situated near the river in Old Tbilisi, the sulfur baths are eye-catching. There is an entire street (Abanos kucha) of public bathhouses that use the hot sulphurous waters (abano means "bath", ubani means "district). The baths are underground, but their domes are visible above ground. Occassionally blasts of steam spurt out of the vents in the domes spreading a scent of slightly eggy sulphurous gas in the air.

From Metekhi Bridge toward the city of Tbilisi, the Old City is prominent with narrow, winding streets, houses with long balconies, orthodox Christian churches, mosques, and a conglomeration of small shops and eateries. Amongst the ancient buildings of Old Tbilisi, modern construction is emerging. From the ridge, St Nicolas Church can be seen as a backdrop to the Botanical Gardens and a reminder of the city's long history. In the foreground, the streets that run parallel to the Metekhi River are lined with a blend of evergreen and deciduous trees providing shade and nesting places for small birds.

Despite the global financial crisis, the global retirement market is expected to grow by 66% by 2020.  Australia's share of the world retirement market in 2009 was 3.5% - more than Japan at 3.2%, Northern Europe at 3.1%, Southern Europe at 3.0%, Asia at 1.8% and Central/Eastern Europe at 0.4%. The global markets larger than Australia include the United States at 50.5%, Western Europe at 20.1%, and the United Kingdom at 11.5%. The global financial crisis affected most countries' retirement assets. Australia's pool of retirement funds fell 11% between 2007 and 2008. However, the growth in Australia's retirement assets is expected to excel those of all other countries, except Greece (because it's coming out of a low base). Most countris have commenced reforms to strengthen their retirement markets. In Australia, the reforms began two years ago, which will continue to strengthen until it overtakes Germany and the Netherlands. In 2009, Australia had the s...

On the precipice of the Mtkvari River on Tunnell Street there are a series of buildings that hang precariously, but interestingly, over the left bank of a steep gorge. On the right bank is the main city of Tbilisi with a wide boulevard dotted with statues. The Old Tbilisi district, the original part of the city, is also on the right bank with narrow winding lanes that edge toward the river. Across the river are a number of bridges, both for traffic and pedestrians. The most recent is the Bridge of Peace with its modern and innovative construction. So from these precarious buildings, residents can look along the river, over the bridges, to the sights of Old Tbilisi and the new modern city. In the background are the hills in which the immense Mother of Georgia statue overlooks the city. Along the ridge is the St Nicolas Church, the Ortachalskaya hydroelectric plant, St David's Church, and the Mtatminda Fun Park. MARTINA NICOLLS ...

Georgian Business Week reports that the Russian Minister Alexei Kudrin is urging his country’s citizens to smoke more cigarettes and drink more alcohol to support the local economy. Russia is raising excise duty on both tobacco and alcohol sales, and higher consumption of both could help lift tax revenues for spending on social services. “If you smoke a pack of cigarettes, that means you are giving more help to solve social problems such as boosting demographics, developing other social services and upholding birth rates,” Kudrin said. Currently, Russian duties on cigarettes are among the lowest in Europe. In June, Russia’s Finance Ministry announced plans that could double the price. This was part of President Dmitri Medvedev’s New Year strategy, announced on January 1, 2010 in an anti-alcoholism campaign to curb Russia’s excessive drinking. Given that 65% of the nation’s men smoke and with a per capita alcohol consumption twice as high as that of America and an active...